Valkyrie

I'd say the Hasegawa valks hurt the Club-M market more than anything. Recasts of the VF-1 series were everywhere a year or so ago. But the YF-19 and 21 were never widespread. I remember a while back, I couldn't find recasts of them anywhere. But eventually I turned to Yahoo Japan Auctions and snagged a 19 and 21 for about Y5000 each As for recast eithics... Well, I don't buy too many myself. But if I were to buy, say, a recast of a Club-M VF-1, my conscience would be pretty clear. It's an old, long out of production kit. What's more, Club-M doesn't even hold a Macross liscense anymore (and I think they're pretty much over as a company too). So suffice it to say, there's little chance of them re-issuing their kits, and thus profiting from them once again. But... the same companies that recast old kits are also recasting kits that are still in production... and that just EXTREMELY unethical. I'd never buy one of them. If it's a kit I've gotta have, I have no problem spending a few bucks more for the real deal.

Kick ass... Not only is it in Chicago (no surprise there, really), but it won't even involve a trip downtown on a friday night! The AMC 30 in Barrington is still a good 30 minute trek for me, but it beats the hell out of battling through hellish traffic in the city.

Oops, my bad. 4.5 volts it is. I was thinking 4 batteries for some reason.

Can't say I agree with all that.... First of all, resistors can indeed be used to lower a voltage, in certain configurations. But in simple circuits like the one we're talking about here, only current will be affected. The voltage will remain unchanged. It's also not true that LEDs will just magically draw exactly the amount of current they need. They tend to draw MORE than they need (thus putting them over their max current spec), thus the need to add a current limiting resistor in the circuit. What you said about going over the voltage limit may be true if you're not using the resistor. But as long as you're limiting the current to within its spec, you can usually get away with going over the max voltage a bit. Keeping the current in check is much more crucial. Now, here's my take on John's situation: He's got 15 LEDs wired in parallel, connected to a 6V supply. Now, the LEDs will self-limit their current to a certain degree. But at 6 volts, they'll probably be drawing about 100mA each. That's gotta be way over spec. It also puts the total current load at about 1.5A. That's a lot. Now, since he has most everything sealed up at this point, all he can do is add a single resistor at the power source to limit the overall current. And that overall current will be distributed evenly through every branch of the parallel circuit. For example, if a certain resistor value reduced the overall current to 450mA, then each LED would get 30mA. Which is probably right about where you want to be. (though I'm guessing, since I don't know the specs of your parts) Also, if some of the LED are rated lower or higher than the rest of them, there's nothing you can do get them more or less power at this point. All of them will be getting the same thing.

Wow, thanks a lot for everyone's support. The project shall continue! Expect another update next week

D'oh, you're right. My bad.

It's the Five Star Valkyrie, of course! Here's my favorite so far -- White Base (from the original Gundam series) in Storm Attacker mode http://zip.4chan.org/m/src/1093474880870.jpg

Sorry guys, been meaning to get this up for a while now. Here's some shots of the main body section. It's the underside in bomber mode. And of its two main components seterated (I still need to get screws with smaller heads for them, BTW) As you can see... they're pretty complex I've gotta say, the engineering on this thing is really impressive. In a few places, Sakuragawa-San used some of the Monster's details to aid in the kit's transformaion. Like here, where this part... (which is a bit crooked cause I screwed up drilling a hole) ...flips open to reveal this connecting bar, which helps hold the battroid mode together But I've also gotta say.... I'm kinda unsure about the future of this project right now Yamato recently announced that their toy version will be released in November, at a price of Y14,800. That's a date I'd be hard pressed to beat, and a price I can't possibly beat Honestly, if it were me contemplating buying a Monster, there'd be no doubt in my mind. I'd definitely go for the cheaper, pre-built toy, instead of a more expensive model, that I'd have to build, drill out holes, and paint. So I think another poll may be in order. Does everyone still want one of these kits?

Well, I've never lit any of my models, but I do know electronics. Those 'grain of wheat' bulbs are indeed small lamps. So yes, they do have a limited life, though I have no idea how long that would be. But I can see no real drawbacks to using white LEDs instead of those bulbs. LEDs will last damn near forever, as long as you throw a resistor into the circuit to limit its current to within the part's max current spec.

The best thing about resin REALLY is that even a schmuck like me can use it to make model kits Making injection models is extremely cost prohibative for any but large companies. It costs thousands of dollars to have the steel molds made that are necessary for making injection kits. Resin kits, on the other hand, are made with silicone molds, and can be made infinitely cheaper, and by hobbyists (though the quality of them can vary greatly). Also, silicone molds can produce parts that simply can't be made with injection molding, such as solid parts, and parts with fairly deep undercuts. It's really versatile stuff.

Yep 28 is pretty good. It should do the job. I'd be worried if it loses too much oil though. Those things need to stay well lubed.

Well, I've never used a refrigerator compressor, so I'm just making educated guesses here. But it seems pretty safe to say that one tube will be spitting out air, just like any other compressor. The other will be the intake, wich will give you the suction you need for it to act as a vacuum pump. And I'm guessing that the third, sealed off tube is is what was used to add refrigerant to the system. But you won't have to worry about that one.

You'll just have to power it up and find out

ouch... looks like it won't be easy. My best guess is to put a flare fitting on the intake tube, and from there, attach a flexible hose from the flare fitting to the fitting on the chamber. But to put a flare fitting on the tube, there's a tool you need to use to flare out the end of the tube. For clear parts, the only stuff I've used is Smooth-On's Clear Cast. It works well, if you can get all the air out of it, but it's slow. Even the quickest curing stuff (which says it cures in only a couple hours) takes up to a week to fully cure, if you're casting thin parts like a canopy. As far as martials for your originals... the sky's the limit. If it works well for you, use it. There's a few materials, such as wood and plaster, that could couse problems if you're using urethane mold material (which I personaly hate), but even then you can avoid problems by spraying them with a sealant. Just read the paperwork that comes with your mold material and you'll be fine.

Alright, found it in the anime. It's actually in episode 1, but in the same ARMD scene I described. It's in frame #31568 of disc 1, side 1 if you have the laserdisc boxed set like I do It's only on screen for one frame, but you can see everything you'll need for the color scheme. I could have sworn it was a longer scene, and it was on screen for at least a full second.... But either I was wrong, or it's in another episode.

SWEET MOTHER OF CRAP!!! It is!! SHE is making a Gunbuster!!! The name Gunbuster is mentioned in the 4th paragraph at the bottom

Wow! That's really impressive! Just one problem with it though... the 'circle-bar' verniers... You made them raised. They should be recessed. They're just like the ones on a VF-1. You could probably just use some of these to replace them, actually. http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljpage.cgi?KBYP-123 I can't remember exactly what that craft is... I think Nanashi was telling me about it once though. But I do remember when it's seen in the TV series. I think it's in episode 2. Remember the scene where the Zentradi ships are turning one of the ARMD ships into swiss cheese? There's some interior shots of VF-1s and such being tossed around inside of it. And that craft is in one of those shots.

I've tried using a 2.5 gallon paint tank as a vacuum chamber once for a friend, and it seemed to work fine. I just had to get a little creative in how to set up the guages and valves and all so it could act as both a pressure pot and a vacuum chamber. As a vacuum chamber, I had no problem reaching 28+in/hg with my 6cfm vacuum pump. The only problem with this method is that you have no way of seeing what's going on inside the pot when you're vacuuming. And with all the expansion that goes on inside there, it helps a LOT to be able to keep an eye on things. That's why I like my vacuum chamber a lot more than the paint tank. It has a 1" thick clear acrylic door, so I can see everything that goes on inside it

There was a fast pack version of that kit as well. Here's the only pic of it I have

Yes, the figure was included in the original Yellow Submarine kit. Each kit in YS's 1/144 VF-X series came with a figure kit (the other 5 kits came with one of the Milky Dolls) $45 isn't a bid price for that kit... but with a little patience, I could probably pick up an original on yahoo japan auctions for about the same price. Same goes for the YF-19 and YF-21 kits too.

I'm hoping to find a few parts to kitbash into it for some of the smaller bits. Like the dashboard details, steering wheel, headlights, etc. And I think I found one of the wheels I'll be using, but I'll probably end up using only the rim and scratchbuilding the tire. And I still need to find something with a fine diamond-plate pattern (preferably photoetch) to use on the hood panel. I REALLY don't want to have to scribe all of that

I was checking out my Club-M 19 a bit today, and I realised that it does, in fact, come with pylons for the missiles. I had completely forgotten about those. I also forgot just how ridiculously oversized the kit's High-Maneuver Missiles are They're probably a good 25% larger than they should actually be. The fold boosters are cool, except for the clear parts. Like I mentioned before, all the clear resin parts are undersized, and they'll need a good deal of work to repair or rebuild. But it'd be very cool if you could make it happen. There's a bunch of 1/72 kits and toys it could be adapted for

Sorry guys.... It's coming along, just not as quickly as any of us would like I've got a good deal of progress to progress to show off though. I'll try to put together an update and get it up tomorrow. And yes, I most definitely want to have it finished before the Yamato release. Too bad they haven't anounced a release date yet

Yes, 1/72 is a little small for VF-1. I forgot to mention, the tow tractor will only be about 2 1/4" long. But I think it'll make for a great kit. These two models plus a Hase VF-1 will make for a nice little diorama And yes Jesse, that was pretty much my idea. If I'm not mistaken, mine will be the first 1/72 Macross support equipment kits ever made. Though Imai made some in 1/100 that came with their Macross Factory, and they look fairly accurate, from what I can tell. But they didn't make either of the ones I'm working on

Hey guys. With everyone else showing off their scratchbuilds, I though I'd join in on the fun. This is a little something I've been working on the past couple days. It's my first real attempt at a scratchbuild, and I'm really amazed at how well, and how quickly it's coming together! The kit will be in 1/72 scale (made to be used with Hasegawa VF-1s) and will most likely be called "Ship-Borne Aircraft Support Equipment Set #1". It will contain two main models, one of which will remain a secret for now But the first one will be a Tow Tractor, which is used to taxi VF-1s and to tow other support equiptment. Design art and technical assistance was provided by Nanashi (thanks again!), and I used AutoCAD to create plan drawings from them. These two drawings are all I had to go on, but they proved to be pretty adequate (posted with permission from Nanashi) And here's my current progress building it. It's made almost entirely of 0.03" sheet styrene, with MoriMori polyester putty used to make it solid (and therefore less fragile). Building it has been rather intersting. It's easier than I though in most respects, but harder in some others. But all in all, I think it's looking really good Some of the panels (I think 4 of them so far) are temporary, and I'll have to make detailed ones to replace them. I'm kinda just fleshing out the shape right now. Lemme know what you all think And for those of you wondering, yes, I am still working on the Monster too